Review: My Soul to Steal

My Soul to Steal
Rachel Vincent
Young Adult/Fantasy
Soul Screamers/Book 4
Harlequin Teen/January 1, 2011

From the author's website ~

YOU WANT MY SOUL AND MY BOYFRIEND?

Trying to work things out with Nash — her maybe boyfriend — is hard enough for Kaylee Cavanaugh. She can’t just pretend nothing happened. But “complicated” doesn’t even begin to describe their relationship when his ex-girlfriend transfers to their school, determined to take Nash back.

See, Sabine isn’t just an ordinary girl. She’s a mara, the living personification of a nightmare. She can read people’s fears—and craft them into nightmares while her victims sleep. Feeding from human fear is how she survives.

And Sabine isn’t above scaring Kaylee and the entire school to death to get whatever — and whoever — she wants.

I DON'T THINK SO.

Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamer series is one of my favorite young adult series to date. Vincent's style of writing captures the demeanor of the teens - coming across as genuine, with that teen angst and logic that can defy reason.

Kaylee has had a lot of hard choices to make in recent months. One of the hardest was to distance herself from her boyfriend Nash when he made some seriously bad decisions that not only affected him but her as well. With Kaylee spending little time with Nash, this give Sabine the perfect opportunity to spend time with Nash in her attempt to get him back. But thankfully, Kaylee isn't a complete pushover. She fights back, letting Sabine know that she won't give up Nash without a fight. I've always liked Kaylee and that hasn't changed. I do think she should have started spending time with Nash once Sabine showed up and not have continued to keep such a distance from him. It's hard to fight for your boyfriend when you're not there but the competition is.

Nash - oh, brother. By the middle of the book, Nash was really getting on my last nerve. He tells Kaylee how he needs a friend right now and that's all Sabine is, a friend. Yeah, someone needs to tell Sabine that and then get her believe it! He spends time alone with Sabine, in his bedroom, knowing that her agenda includes getting him back as her boyfriend. He continues to tell Kaylee that nothing has happened or will happen with Sabine because he still loves Kaylee and wants her back. I do think Nash's heart was in the right place. He's trying to help Sabine, still considers her a good friend, but he trusted her a little too much to not hurt Kaylee in the process. I wish Nash had gotten tough with Sabine a lot sooner than he did and stopped making excuses for her actions.

What can I say about Sabine that is nice? Oh - she was honest about her feeling for Nash and that she would do anything to get him back. I do have to give her credit for that. She was also a bitch and a half when it came to Kaylee and how she rubbed Kaylee's face in the fact that she was Nash's first and they had a history that Kaylee and Nash didn't. Then Sabine asks Kaylee to help her when Nash finally decides to stop seeing Sabine. WTH!!! Yes, Sabine had the guts to ask Kaylee for help in getting Nash to talk to her again. All the while telling Kaylee that she still had every intention of trying to get Nash back as her boyfriend. She also told Kaylee to lay off Nash so she would have a chance with him. Seriously, this girl's logic was dangerously skewed. The odd part is, by the end of the book, she didn't bother me as much. I can't go so far to say that I liked her but. . . my dislike for her wasn't as intense.

The drama with Sabine isn't the only thing Kaylee has to contend with. Something very bad is going on at school. Plus, Kaylee is having some painfully bad dreams, Freddy Krueger's got nothing on these. Kaylee thinks Sabine is behind the dreams and the deaths but can't prove Sabine had anything to do with the deaths. Nash denies Sabine would have anything to do with it, no surprise there. Kaylee does ask Tod for help and while I've always liked Tod, I did have to question his motives when giving Kaylee advice about Sabine and Nash. Strange alliances are formed both here and in the Netherworld. The showdown between good and evil was filled tension, high emotions and possibly the ultimate sacrifice.

My Soul to Steal once again shows why I love this series so much! There were a lot of intense emotions, danger and mystery. It was all woven together to form an addictive story line. The next book, If I Die is due out this fall and I can not wait to find out what these characters are up to next!

Rating: A-

Books in this series ~

My Soul to Lose (prequel novella)
MY Soul to Take
My Soul to Save
My Soul to Keep
Reaper (MStS prequel novella)
My Soul to Steal

Review: My Soul to Take

My Soul to Take
Rachel Vincent
Fantasy/Young Adult
Soul Screamers/Book 1
Harlequin Teen/August 2009
Library book

From the back cover ~

SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH KAYLEE CAVANAUGH

She doesn't see dead people, but...

She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.

Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about the need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who'll be next...

SOUL SCREAMERS

The last thing you hear before you die...

Before reading My Soul to Take I would strongly recommend reading the free online prequel novella, My Soul to Lose. You can go to Rachel Vincent's website and read it or it can be downloaded free (as of this writing) from Amazon for the Kindle. It's an excellent read and gives you a healthy taste of Vincent's writing style. I got pulled into Kaylee's world when I read My Soul to Lose and was thrilled I had My Soul to Take on the library tbr pile. (yeah, I have a library tbr pile too!)

Do you ever feel like you want to scream? Need to scream? Have to scream? Kaylee Cavanaugh knows exactly how that feels because it happens to her whenever she's near someone who's about to die. And this girl can scream. She screams until she loses her voice and people around her think she's gone crazy. Even Kaylee thinks she might just go crazy when it happens. It's like she goes into another world or dimension and no one else understands just how scary it is.

The story is told in Kaylee's POV but I thought Vincent did a good job giving the reader enough insight into the other characters through their words and actions. It was good that I liked Kaylee's voice. There were a couple of times when she got a little to into the "pity me" mode but she had good reason to. Thinking that you're going crazy and finding out there is an explanation, not matter how strange, can give anyone a little attitude.

I felt this odd connection to Kaylee right away. It's odd because she's a teen and I haven't seen my teen years for a very long time and yet there was something there. Maybe it was the way Kaylee wasn't exactly a loner but she wasn't with the "in-crowd" either. She has the usual teenage angst, adults who don't get her and a dysfunctional family thrown into the mix. She still has this inner core of strength and maturity. No doubt from everything she's lived through with her "panic attacks" and the losses she has faced in her 17 years. I really liked her and the way Vincent wrote her to be true to her experiences and her age. She felt like a teenager, not like an adult trying to act like a teenager.

When Kaylee and her best friend Emma decide to sneak into a dance club the night ends with Kaylee falling fast towards another scream fest and Nash Hudson, her secret crush, there to witness it. With Nash's help, Kaylee is just barely able to keep it together. But what's with Nash's sudden interested in Kaylee? Yeah, Nash is hiding something, it's pretty obviously but what is he hiding? I asked my teen daughter, she had already read MStT, but she just smiled and told me "you'll find out." So I'll tell you the same thing. Read the book and you'll find out. LOL

Nash is a popular guy at school. He hangs with the in crowd but he's not a snob. He's what I would call a mature 18. I liked Nash too! I liked him and Kaylee together. I thought they made a great couple once I got to know Nash. At first I had to wonder what his motives were because as Kaylee points out, they don't really travel in the same social circles. ~

If Eastlake High School were the universe, I would be one of the moons circling Planet Emma, constantly hidden by her shadow, and glad to be there. Nash Hudson would be one of the stars: too bright to look at, too hot to touch and at the center of his own solar system. page 11

I do think Kaylee tends to downplay her importance in her friends lives. She finds out that she is far more important than she ever thought when her friends come through for her. The small circle of her friends widens a bit and an interesting character named Tod comes into Kaylee's world. He's one secondary character that I look forward to reading more about. In fact all the secondary characters, Kaylee's family and friends, Nash's family, are all well written and add dimension to the story without taking away from Kaylee's and to a lesser extent Nash's spotlight.

As Kaylee and Nash grow closer together, Kaylee begins to discover the reason for her attacks and the history behind them. I loved, loved, loved the way Vincent incorporated myths, legends and fantasy into the story. She gives a new twist to the myths and adds a unique touch to the legends, creating a fantasy world that pulls the reader in and holds them tight.

This is definitely a YA series I would recommend for teens and adults. And just in case you're wondering, My Soul to Take and the second book, My Soul to Save both get teen daughter's seal of approval. :) I still need to read My Soul to Save. I had to return it to the library before I could read it so I'm back on the request list. It gives me something to look forward to and I'll still have time to read it before book 3, My Soul to Keep which comes out June 1.

Rating: A